I'm not big fan of hers either. Besides - would let a player who missed the entire season with injury have a spot on the team? I don't think so.

Anyway, I usually only root for rookies, or players early in their career. If Arike makes the team I'd reconsider, but even if she makes it they will nail her to the bench and let Taurasi and Bird stink it up some more. I don't like the coaches either.

You mean like Taurasi, Bird , and Diggins-Smith?

I guess Stewart is ruled out too then. Glad Randy’s on top of this stuff.

_________________Nnekalonians 1:14 - Thou shalt not accept that which is not earned

I'm not big fan of hers either. Besides - would let a player who missed the entire season with injury have a spot on the team? I don't think so.

Anyway, I usually only root for rookies, or players early in their career. If Arike makes the team I'd reconsider, but even if she makes it they will nail her to the bench and let Taurasi and Bird stink it up some more. I don't like the coaches either.

Anyway, I usually only root for rookies, or players early in their career.

"Your rookie contract expired? Get out of my sight you low life!"

_________________Even now by the gate with your long hair blowing
And the colors of the day that lie along your arms
You must barter your life to make sure you are living
And the crowd that has come
You give them the colors
And the bells and wind and the dream

The London-born 6ft 4ins 22-year-old grew up in Phoenix, Arizona and was a first-round draft pick for the Connecticut Sun before moving to Dallas Wings where she played alongside new GB team-mate Karlie Samuelson.

Quote:

“It’s really quite exciting because I had never dreamed of playing in the Olympics, at least at my age, so having that chance to play with really good players on a really good team is a dream come true.”

_________________Nnekalonians 1:14 - Thou shalt not accept that which is not earned

Could be a very useful addition for us, but which - if any - of our 'foreigners' counts as naturalised now becomes important again. Adding Anigwe is less helpful if it forces you to subtract Samuelson.

Could be a very useful addition for us, but which - if any - of our 'foreigners' counts as naturalised now becomes important again. Adding Anigwe is less helpful if it forces you to subtract Samuelson.

Generally being born there tends to allow the person to be counted as non-naturalized, but we would probably need to know a lot more details about her specific situation.

Confirmed by the one guy who mostly makes his living by covering professional basketball in Britain that Anigwe got her UK passport before the age of 16, and therefore qualifies as a native. Which is good to hear . We've never handed out passports to anyone that can play like some other countries, but we do have the advantage of more Americans/Australians/etc being randomly born here than are born in, say, Hungary. Nice to see that being taken advantage of on occasion.

ETA: I'm also wondering what the hell FIBA are going to do if the Chinese team are blocked by health/governmental authorities. The Chinese women's soccer team aren't being allowed out of their hotel rooms in Brisbane at the moment. If the basketball team hasn't already left for Serbia, they're probably going to be working on a tighter time-frame. Any kind of quarantine could make it hard to be ready in time for the games.

Confirmed by the one guy who mostly makes his living by covering professional basketball in Britain that Anigwe got her UK passport before the age of 16, and therefore qualifies as a native. Which is good to hear . We've never handed out passports to anyone that can play like some other countries, but we do have the advantage of more Americans/Australians/etc being randomly born here than are born in, say, Hungary. Nice to see that being taken advantage of on occasion.

ETA: I'm also wondering what the hell FIBA are going to do if the Chinese team are blocked by health/governmental authorities. The Chinese women's soccer team aren't being allowed out of their hotel rooms in Brisbane at the moment. If the basketball team hasn't already left for Serbia, they're probably going to be working on a tighter time-frame. Any kind of quarantine could make it hard to be ready in time for the games.

Anigwe left her game today with an injury. Supposedly China left today for Serbia.

Just a note that the games start tomorrow. From what I can see, only GB-China and GB-Korea are currently free on FIBA's YouTube channel, with every game listed at livebasketball.tv. But I believe you're at least getting some of them in the US via ESPN+ (maybe all?).

Opening game of the day is that GB-China game in Belgrade - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_dS1_zUsyo - at noon locally, which should be 6am US Eastern. Most of the games are in the evening in Europe, which means noon-ish and 2pm-ish tip-offs US Eastern time (including USA-Serbia at 2pm US ET tomorrow).

Just a note that the games start tomorrow. From what I can see, only GB-China and GB-Korea are currently free on FIBA's YouTube channel, with every game listed at livebasketball.tv. But I believe you're at least getting some of them in the US via ESPN+ (maybe all?).

Opening game of the day is that GB-China game in Belgrade - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_dS1_zUsyo - at noon locally, which should be 6am US Eastern. Most of the games are in the evening in Europe, which means noon-ish and 2pm-ish tip-offs US Eastern time (including USA-Serbia at 2pm US ET tomorrow).

Is that really that surprising? France and Spain have been consistently the best teams in Europe for a while, and Australia are pretty close to being a one-woman team. Barely an upset, especially considering it was on French soil.

In other news, Brazil are virtually out after losing to Puerto Rico in OT, Japan stuffed Sweden, Canada scraped past Belgium, and Yao Ming offered to buy me a pint because I looked so miserable after China just barely beat GB.

Is that really that surprising? France and Spain have been consistently the best teams in Europe for a while, and Australia are pretty close to being a one-woman team. Barely an upset, especially considering it was on French soil.

In other news, Brazil are virtually out after losing to Puerto Rico in OT, Japan stuffed Sweden, Canada scraped past Belgium, and Yao Ming offered to buy me a pint because I looked so miserable after China just barely beat GB.

Since you saw her live, any thoughts on whether Li Yuan is worthy of a late pick?

Since you saw her live, any thoughts on whether Li Yuan is worthy of a late pick?

If she can shoot like that consistently, sure; if she can't, probably not. Most teams will probably think they can find a random small point guard to take a flier on without the complications of her also being Chinese, but it certainly wouldn't surprise me to see someone throw her name out there in the third round. FIBA has her listed at 5-7, which is clearly nonsense, but she can be fun. Maybe Atlanta takes her and tries to bring her over in a package with Li Yueru. Just think of all the human interest pieces that would be written about the little-and-large Lis coming to America.

Since you saw her live, any thoughts on whether Li Yuan is worthy of a late pick?

If she can shoot like that consistently, sure; if she can't, probably not. Most teams will probably think they can find a random small point guard to take a flier on without the complications of her also being Chinese, but it certainly wouldn't surprise me to see someone throw her name out there in the third round. FIBA has her listed at 5-7, which is clearly nonsense, but she can be fun. Maybe Atlanta takes her and tries to bring her over in a package with Li Yueru. Just think of all the human interest pieces that would be written about the little-and-large Lis coming to America.

Not so sure about Atlanta now. Loeffler's latest campaign commercial says the Chinese are going after American jobs.....

Since you saw her live, any thoughts on whether Li Yuan is worthy of a late pick?

If she can shoot like that consistently, sure; if she can't, probably not. Most teams will probably think they can find a random small point guard to take a flier on without the complications of her also being Chinese, but it certainly wouldn't surprise me to see someone throw her name out there in the third round. FIBA has her listed at 5-7, which is clearly nonsense, but she can be fun. Maybe Atlanta takes her and tries to bring her over in a package with Li Yueru. Just think of all the human interest pieces that would be written about the little-and-large Lis coming to America.

Not so sure about Atlanta now. Loeffler's latest campaign commercial says the Chinese are going after American jobs.....

Surely 2 of the 12 spots on the Dream going to Chinese people would just help to prove her point?

Looks like KOR beat GBR in another close one, 82-79.
So if my understanding is correct, in order for GBR to continue onto the Olympics, KOR would have to lose to CHN (probably a given) and GBR would have to beat ESP (tough but not impossible).

_________________Nnekalonians 1:14 - Thou shalt not accept that which is not earned